


Chronicles of the Waiting Room

by ACR



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-25
Updated: 2012-08-25
Packaged: 2017-11-12 21:29:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/495840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACR/pseuds/ACR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the event in the warehouse, Isaac watches everything fall apart.<br/>Erica and Boyd are still gone, long since kidnapped by a pack that won't show itself. Derek is barely around anymore, blaming himself solely for the missing betas. Jackson is embracing the Omega lifestyles, hidden away in the darker corners of lonelyness. Scott and Stiles friendship is falling apart because lets face it, Scott is in denial about everything.<br/>They're as far from a pack as they possibly could be. It would take a true disaster to bring them together.<br/>And it does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chronicles of the Waiting Room

**Author's Note:**

> Post-Season 2 one-shot  
> Isaac POV  
> PAIRINGS: Scott/Isaac, Stiles/Derek  
> TW for abuse/violence/sexual abuse

Isaac didn’t always have a dysfunctional family.

He was a surprise. Isaacs father was told they couldn’t have any more kids, but they had Camden, so that was fine. Camden was eight when his mother got pregnant again. The doctors said it wasn’t completely impossible, that somehow they could have worked around it. The first years of his life were really good. He had a normal family like all kids should have.

He was eight when his mom vanished. Eight when his dad quit his job at the school

 Nine when the police finally found his moms body, bruised and raped and beaten in some kind of drug house. He was nine when his dad started becoming depressed. He was nine when his dad demanded a DNA test from the doctors. Nine when he found out his dad wasn’t his real dad at all.

He was ten when Camden joined the military. Ten when his only savior and hero stopped looking at him and abandoned him all together. Ten the first time his dad locked him in the freezer for an hour. He screamed and clawed and cried and hated every second of it. But it wouldn’t be the last time.

He was twelve when news came that Camden had been killed in action. Twelve when his dad stopped locking him up as much in lieu of wallowing in depression. Twelve when he realized he was happy Camden died. Happy he wasn’t being tortured.

He was thirteen the first time he ran away. He saw it in a movie once. He got on his bike and peddled and peddled. The sheriff picked him up on the outskirts of town and took him home. He was thirteen when his dad beat him bloody and kept him in the freezer for two days while he screamed his lungs dry.

He was fourteen when he started high school. Fourteen when he joined the lacrosse team and actually found something he enjoyed. Fourteen when he learned to pocket his homework and a flashlight before dinner. So when his dad threw him into isolation, at least he’d have something to do.

He was fifteen when he started working for his dad, started working towards his dad. He actually made him smile a few times. And his dad stopped throwing him down there so often, only when he was really mad. It was like the alternative to getting grounded. He was fifteen when he first realized he was bisexual. He was fifteen when his dad found out. He was fifteen the first time his dad really called him an abomination, and told him he wasn’t his son at all.

He was sixteen when he met Derek. He was sixteen when his dad died. He was sixteen when he felt the most power he had ever felt, when he felt relief over never having to be locked away ever again. He was sixteen when he stopped feeling alone.

The feeling doesn’t hit him all at once. He meets Derek and honestly? He thinks he’s a real prick and an asshole. He completely cows under Dereks roar the first full moon and realizes that if he can’t give his alpha anything else, he should respect him. Because Derek is big and Derek is mean. Derek is also a softy. Isaac realizes that when Derek lets him live with him. He realizes that when he hears Derek singing along to love songs on the radio. He realizes it when Derek cares for him like a dad he never really had.

Erica and Boyd are included into the group. He admits to thinking Erica was really hot at first, but it dulled into something else. He considered them like a brother and sister. Erica was sassy and bitchy with her newfound power, but she was just like him, tired of being weak. Boyd was quiet and reserved, but he laughed at Isaacs bad jokes and always listened to them talk. It was obvious that Boyd had always been alone, always looked down upon. Isaac enjoyed their company, in fact he relished in it. He wasn’t alone like he had been for so long. But it still wasn’t enough.

When Erica and Boyd decide to leave the pack when everything becomes too much, Isaac is torn. On one hand, he agrees with them, he wants things to be easier and less scary. On the other hand, he can’t imagine leaving Derek to face it all on his own, not when Derek gave him so much. Really though, he is angry and upset at all of them. Erica and Boyd aren’t like him. They had families before any of this happened. Isaac had always had nothing, and this was as close as he could get. He decided to stay with Derek, help if he could, hope for the best.

What he found was something else entirely. He had known Scott and Stiles for a few years, since he started on the Lacrosse team and so did they. He was lonely and yeah, maybe kind of envied their stupid brotherly relationship. But he had never talked to them, not until he was turned and Scott McCall took an unnatural sort of… protective stance on him. He chalked it up to being some sense of pride, and not Isaac at all. But he did notice the way Scott didn’t care nearly as much about Erica and Boyd as he did about Isaac. He noticed the way Scotts eyes lingered on him like he was a time bomb minutes from exploding.

So what he found was a friendship he didn’t expect, and it started the day Isaac came back to the lacrosse game. He told Scott he trusted him because yeah, he did. He wasn’t going to not trust anyone just because some fucked up shit had happened to him in the past. This dysfunctional little thing was the closest to a family he had ever had. He had to stand and fight for it. So he went to the lacrosse game, he offered to help Scott find Stiles and in the end they were so caught up in everything, some bond was there that couldn’t be denied. After Gerard crawled off and they watched Jackson become a wolf, it softened. But Isaac didn’t miss the way Scott ran at him when Allison put arrows through his chest, he didn’t miss the way Scott saved them.

*

Five days after that night, he ended up at Stiles’ house when he knew Scott is there. He stood outside hesitantly and considered. Derek had been cold since everything hit the fan at the warehouse, and Isaac didn’t really know what to do. He knew Derek was kind of destroyed at the fact Scott was still denying their pack, and he knew coming here would piss Derek off, but really, what the hell was he supposed to do?

He knocked on the door. Stiles’ dad answered and looked a little stunned, but he recognized him.

“Ah, hello. Isaac right?” The Sherriff said. Isaac nodded.

“Are Scott and Stiles here?”

“Yeah, upstairs,” He turned around and aimed his head towards the stairs, “Stiles! You have a visitor!” He turned back, “Just go on up.”

“Thanks,” Isaac sidestepped him and shoved his hands into his pockets, walking up the stairs. He almost knocks and then the door is opening up by itself.

“I- Oh.” Stiles said, blinking at him, “Uh, come in dude.”

Isaac walked past him and glanced around at the room. It was a standard guy room really, band posters and lame toys. Maybe a little cleaner than most rooms but that didn’t surprise Isaac since Stiles was such a mom sometimes. Scott was sitting on the bed, legs folded. He gave Isaac a classic puppy-dog concerned look.

“What’s up, Isaac?” He asked. Isaac shifted uncomfortably at the use of his name directly. And he didn’t want to be here, really. It wasn’t friendly, and Stiles was practically radiating hostility.

“I just wanted to talk. Mostly I wanted to thank you for saving me from Gerard, and for coming to my rescue when Allison shot me.”

“Oh,” Scott said a little stupidly, “Um, no problem.”

Stiles came around and sat down on the desk chair, giving Isaac a critical look, “Why else are you here?” He said sharply. Scott sent him a side-eyed glare.

“Look, this isn’t easy for me, okay?” Isaac gulped hard.

“Yeah,” Scott said gently before Stiles could open his mouth, “Sorry. Continue.”

Isaac sighed, “Look, we need help, okay? I know it’s not what you want to hear but we aren’t solving anything being this spread out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’ve been trapped at the Hale house listening to Derek and Peter bitch for the past few days,” Isaac realized how desperate he sounded but he didn’t care, “And Derek is such a wreck. We don’t even know where to start in finding Erica and Boyd.”

“Wait, they’re missing?” Stiles questioned, flinching a bit. Isaac stared at the bruises still on his face and the cut on his lip that still wasn’t fully healed. His stomach hurt from it. “I saw them at the Gerards house.”

“And Chris Argent said he let them go,” Scott piped in.

Isaac gripped his hand nervously, “They never came back. I went looking for their scent but it’s not there.”

“Well, look,” Stiles said, “I mean, they were fully planning on leaving Derek. Maybe after being locked up in an Argent basement for a few hours they still wanted that. I don’t blame them. Maybe they just… took off.”

“No,” Isaac shook his head, “They haven’t separated from the pack. I’d feel it.”

Scotts eyes grew big, “You would know?”

“Yeah. We’re connected to our pack. I feel Boyd and Erica and Derek and, even Peter now.” Isaac didn’t mention the connection he felt to Scott, too. He didn’t feel like he had the right to.

“Would you know if they were dead?” Scott asked. It’s quiet, like the thought scared him.

“I don’t know.”

They sat in silence, Stiles thrumming his fingers against the back of the chair. Finally, he speaks, “Look, I mean… They’re missing. And we can bounce around that all we want, but... Should we entertain the idea that they’ve been kidnapped?”

“By who?” Scott sighed, “I know we’re not exactly in any place to trust the Argents, but when Chris said he let them go, I knew he meant it. They’re broken. In no place to be kidnapping any werewolves now that Gerard is gone.”

Isaac felt his heart speed up, and Scott must have heard it because he looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Do you know something?” Scott asked, slowly letting it go over his tongue. Isaac gulped.

“I- You should talk to Derek.”

“I’m NOT talking to Derek,” Scott snapped, “Look, I never asked for Derek in the first place. I want to focus on school and help you find Erica and Boyd if I can, but none of this is officially my problem anymore.”

Isaac stared at him for a few seconds. He wondered if Scott really thought that could happen, thought that life could just go back to normal now. He breathed deeply, “There’s another pack in town. They haven’t shown themselves to us, yet, but they left their mark on the Hale house. They’re here.”

Scott sort of paled, but he didn’t look shocked, “Damn.”

Isaac glanced at Stiles, who had been particularly quiet since Derek was brought up. He was looking at the floor, but Isaac didn’t miss the pained look on his face.

“Did you think this would happen?” Isaac asked, turning to look back at Scott.

“No. Well, I kind of thought so,” Scott said, meeting his eyes, “Wolves are territorial, right? And I figured Derek was building up his pack for a reason. I just didn’t think they’d come so soon.”

Isaac nodded, and he really did understand that. If felt like they were just in one bad situation after the next, they got no peace. He kept glancing at Stiles and his sad eyes until finally he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Stiles?” He reached fleetingly, feeling a bit like a child trying to wake up an unresponsive mother. Stiles looked up at him.

“So, if there’s another pack, what are the chances they kidnapped Erica and Boyd?” He said, his voice and face neutral, but Isaac hadn’t missed the way it looked before.

“At this point, the chances are pretty strong. Derek doesn’t know where to start. He’s kind of… not really THERE right now.”

Stiles nodded and stood up, “I should tell my dad, I mean, that you think they were kidnapped. He can start looking? It’s better than nothing.”

Scott looked a little torn at the idea, but Isaac nodded quickly, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Stiles left the room before Isaac could say anything else. He stood up and went to the window, forcing it open. The warm spring air hit him and he stared through the panes, trying to figure out how to climb through.

Suddenly, Scott was standing next to him. Isaac resisted the urge to flinch at the sudden invasion of personal space and just looked over at him. The way Scott was pinning him with his eyes made him want to jump out the window and flee, but it wasn’t a harsh look. It was a concerned one.

“You care.” Scott muttered. It was simple, a statement and not a question, but Isaac felt the need to answer it anyway.

“Yeah,” He said quietly, “I do.”

“But I mean, you care about everyone,” Scott leaned against the wall, “You look at Stiles like he’s a broken toy. I mean yeah, I feel that too, but it’s different for you, isn’t it? Because you’ve been like that before.”

Isaac felt his chest tighten up, constrict the way it always did when someone brought up his past or his father, or the way everything used to be. He met Scotts eyes, “Yes, I have had the shit beaten out of me before, if that’s what you’re saying. Stiles is traumatized, I don’t think we should ignore that.”

“He’ll be fine, though,” Scott said and Isaac wanted to hit him in the face. He could be so oblivious.

“No, he’s not,” Isaac laughed but it was harsh, “He was hurt, he was weak. He gave away our position because he was TORTURED, Scott.” Scott winced at the words and looked like Isaac had physically hit him, but he continued, “He’s your human best friend and he has been taking a back-seat on importance behind everyone else.”

Scott remained silent for a minute, staring up at the walls of the room like they are brand new to him. Finally, he spoke in a broken voice, “I never meant for that to happen. I want everything to go back to normal.”

Isaac sighed. He knew he couldn’t blame everything that was happening on Scott, because it wasn’t his fault. He was just a kid caught up in circumstance. He didn’t WANT the bite, not the way Isaac had. But that didn’t make any of this less of his responsibility.

“Things can’t be normal now,” Isaac whispered under his breath, “We’re too far in. Stiles and you and me and everyone.”

Scott swallowed hard, “I know.”

“But you’re going to keep pretending it is,” Isaac met his eyes and frowned as deeply as he could, “Stiles is going to tell his dad Boyd and Erica are kidnapped, like his dad can do a thing. You’re not going to ask Stiles about how broken he is. You’re going to be good in school and to your mom and pretend you aren’t a werewolf knee deep in death. You’re going to stand around waiting for Allison to come back, or normalcy to come back.”

Scott looked at him, an army of emotions passing over his face, creating a conflicted painful look that tugged at Isaacs’s heart. Eventually, though, Scott opened his mouth, “Yes.”

Isaac realized that his claws were out, gripping the windowsill so hard he left marks there. He let go and shook his head, trying to calm down. He glared at Scott with undeniably golden eyes, “Then you’re going to watch it all go to hell around you.”

He launched himself out the window and ignored the way it hurt when he hit the ground, taking off into a full run.

*

Isaac watched everything implode around him over the course of the next month. It reminded him a lot of after his mother died, the breaking point, and watching his family fall to pieces after that. All the memories brought up over it gave him insomnia and resulted in the best grades in school he had ever gotten, now that he had so much extra time for homework. But he had to sleep sometimes, and when he did, he woke up screaming out into an empty warehouse at memories of being locked in a tight space and trying to get one bit of freedom.

That was how he felt then, too. Like he was helpless and flailing in a tight spot and he couldn’t get out.

He sat alone at lunch and pretended to not see the MISSING posters scattered over the school and all over town. But sometimes he would stop, stare at one of the pictures of Erica and Boyd. He wondered if they were even alive, and as each day passed, the likelihood of that decreased. He wondered how their parents felt about it all and he wished it had been him. He had no mother or father to cry over him being gone like Erica, no little siblings to miss him like Boyd did.

Derek was like an emotionally volatile mess, at least on the few occasions Isaac saw him. He was all over the place, as far as Isaac could smell. He was in the woods, wolfed out, and he barely looked human sometimes when he came back to the warehouse. He smelled like smoke and fire, like the Hale house, like foreign places. Isaac wondered if Derek even cared, the way he barely spoke to Isaac, but he knew he did. Derek looked destroyed each passing day when he couldn’t find Erica or Boyd, couldn’t find the Alpha Pack, couldn’t find anything. Isaac knew he had looked, mostly he knew that he had been gone and not talking to anyone and that was really scary, because Derek was the voice of reason, or he was supposed to be.

Isaac stayed at the warehouse and ate the food Peter brought him. Isaac was a little shocked at how much he enjoyed Peters company, especially when he spent so many days alone. Peter was funny, sarcastic but only when he needed to be. He would sit down at their makeshift table in the evenings and make conversation, ask Isaac blunt questions about his past. And Isaac told him everything because really, it was the only thing he had right now. So he bonded a little bit and enjoyed it. Mostly he enjoyed the way Peter would sass Derek when he finally showed up, telling him he was the worst Alpha ever (among other things that Isaac had just been dying to say). Overall, Peter gave Isaac warm smiles and never failed to bring him food and keep him company and he doesn’t remind Isaac of his dad at all. In fact, he reminds him a lot of Camden. Quick and talkative and blunt. Which made his heart hurt in a more fond way.

School was really weird, so Isaac tried to remain a silent spectator of everything falling apart around him. Jackson was a werewolf now, the thing he wanted in the first place, and where he should have been trying to come to terms with that or find a pack, he was a full blown Omega reaping the benefits. He was still a dick to everyone, but actually only seemed to talk to Lydia or Danny. Isaac was glad because at least he seems to have found some sort of anchor in them, but he was a little concerned about the way Derek has just… forgotten about Jackson, forgotten that he’s still a new wolf who could lose control and kill people. So he watched their little three-man-clique linger in the darker parts of the cafeteria and pretended like they weren’t like a time bomb.

Allison has seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Isaac saw her every day in Chemistry, the only class they shared, but she was never around at lunch and seemed to vanish after school. When he saw her, though, she was focused. He realizes he’s probably the only person who could relate to her, at this point, and really did feel sympathy for her even though she tried to kill him not that long ago. She lost her mom. She was probably on a slow path to losing everything and yeah, she had kind of gone off the deep end, but she was redeeming herself now, in a way. Staying out of everyone’s way.

The saddest thing Isaac could fathom was watching the friendship between Scott and Stiles slowly deteriorate. For as long as he can remember knowing them, Scott and Stiles have been best friends. Isaac reminded himself that good things couldn’t last forever when he saw Scott sitting alone one day, Stiles nowhere to be seen. For weeks though he had smelled the tension wafting off of them. After Scott sitting alone continued for a few days, Isaac slid into the seat next to him and just said “I told you so.”

Everything continued like that. Jackson stays in his corner with Lydia and Danny. Isaac eats lunch with Scott and forms some sort of friendship with him where they talk about things before there were werewolves, and nothing else (Isaac quietly tries not to think about how much of Scott is still in denial), and Isaac eats dinner with Peter Hale and laughs at his little quips. When Derek shows up the next few times, Isaac thinks he smells a bit like Stiles but doesn’t ask any questions.

Mostly, though, a month passed and there was still no sign of Erica and Boyd, no sign of the Alpha pack looming.

*

The next full moon passed and Isaac spent it alone for the first time. It was painful and harder than anything he could physically imagine, but he got through it. Surprisingly, he thinks of Scott. Scott helping him and protecting him and it made him happy, in some obscure way he didn’t want to think about. He assumed that Jackson made it through alright, since there are no gruesome animal murders reported the next day. But he doesn’t miss the fact Jackson looks completely wrecked when he sees him at school, like he hadn’t slept a wink, and Lydia looks just as bad. He doesn’t miss the new formed cuts and bruises on Lydia’s arms, either, and he definitely doesn’t wince at the thought lingering there.

Scott looked really bad too. He looked like he was trying hard to hold on to the last bits of humanity he had left. But he grinned at Isaac when they met at lunch and told him he aced all his finals, and Isaac smiled because at least he could find some happiness in that.

And then school finally ended and summer broke free, and Isaac had nothing else to do but worry and worry and worry and wait.

*

Isaac was finally sleeping after over 42 hours of being wolfed out in the woods and hunting rabbits. He found that hunting was the only thing that helped with the insomnia, getting in touch with his wild side a bit. It made him pretty happy, and tired. So he was finally sleeping and it was amazing.

And then there was a nightmare. This one had a different element than anything from before. His dad was there, looming, always bigger than Isaac. He had red eyes and teeth and… oh God, he wasn’t his dad anymore. Morphed into some sort of horrible creature that represented all of Isaacs fears. And there he was, dragging Scott and Stiles and Derek away, locking them up in a tight space and Isaac was screaming, they were screaming. And he saw Boyd and Erica, faded, bloody and dead on the floor like it was nothing. Isaac screaming and screamed and then he woke up, screaming.

He gripped his sheets and panted. He held out his shaking wrist and checked his watch for the time. A little past midnight, June 5, a week into summer vacation. He sighed and let his head drop, running his hands through curly hair drenched in sweat. He stood up and walked out into the dimly lit warehouse, stalking towards the tiny fridge Peter had brought in a few weeks ago. Isaac opened it and grabbed one of the icy cold water bottles and downed the whole thing.

He barely finished it off when he heard a familiar little tune. He glared at his cellphone, sitting openly and lit-up on the table. He went over and picked it up, holding it tentatively to one ear.

“Hello?” He said. His voice was raspy and his throat hurt from screaming, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was who would be calling him past midnight, anyway?

“Isaac!” It was Scott, and he sounded panicked and almost like he might have been crying, “Isaac, Isaac…”

“Scott,” Isaac said simply, feeling a little exasperated, “What’s wrong? Where are you?”

“I’m-” He got cut off by someone talking to him, deep and masculine in the background, and then he heard Scotts voice, “I know, I know! Isaac,” He gasped, “Stiles is gone.”

“What?” Isaac lurched around, looking for his shoes, “What do you mean gone?”

“I mean, he’s been missing for over a day. His dad just showed up at my house looking for him and I am so fucking freaked out.”

“Relax,” Isaac said as soothingly as he could muster, “Maybe he’s just… I don’t know, out being Stiles?”

“No,” Scott said it like he was sure, and it makes Isaacs heart sputter, “I’ve been smelling… something. I didn’t know what it was at first but, now I think I know. It was the other pack, Isaac. They took Stiles, I am so sure of it.”

“Fuck,” Isaac muttered, “Look, meet me in the woods in like ten minutes. We’ll look for him.”

Isaac decided to forget his shoes and take off into a full run out of the warehouse and into the night. He pulled his phone and dialed in another number…

And that was how Isaac ended up in the woods with Scott and Derek at four in the morning. It was sort of funny in a sad way, the only thing that could snap Derek back into reality and get Scott to stop swimming in denial and working together was the fact someone they all loved was missing. _Loved?_ Isaac nearly tripped over the fact that word even crossed his mind. He didn’t have time to think about it, though, when Scott slowed to a stop. His bright yellow eyes glowed darkly and he sniffed the air. Derek and Isaac both stopped and watched him.

“Do you smell that?” Scott rasped out in his dark voice. Isaac tilted his head and sniffed and smelt it, heavy and metallic in the back of his throat. Blood.

Derek let out a guttural howl, so pained and angry that Isaac actually flinched. The three of them all took off as fast as they could, following Derek who seemed to be on a rampage.

When they finally found Stiles, he was a bloodied mess on the ground and that tiny feeling of pain and remorse Isaac had felt when he saw the bruises on Stiles, suddenly filled his entire body and pulsed through him like electricity. Stiles eye was black and his face was cut up and bruised, his lip seemed to actually be bitten (and that made Isaacs stomach drop out of existence), and his arm looked broken. Isaac bit back the urge to scream or cry or run away. He immediately looked to Scott, whose eyes were blown and he looked like someone had just ripped out his heart and stomped on it. Because yeah, that was Scotts HUMAN best friend, destroyed on the ground, and no matter which way you looked at it, it was because of them.

Isaac was having trouble reading Dereks expression. He was angry, yeah, but he was ALWAYS angry. This was something else, too, like Derek was experiencing flashbacks. He probably was. Derek, who had his entire family ripped away from him, and now there was this. And Derek just looked defeated now, like he couldn’t even breathe.

Isaac watched him pick up Stiles, or try to, and then he was collapsing onto his knees and just holding the broken body like it was the most fragile thing in the world. Scott stood a few feet back, just staring and shaking his head like he was trying to shake off some nightmare.

“Car,” Derek said, clearly, but it sounded kind of muffled by pain, “Hospital.”

Isaac nodded quickly and approached slowly, reaching into Dereks leather jacket pockets and pulling out his keys. He broke into a run towards where the Camero was parked and told himself the wetness in his eyes was from running at such a fast speed.

*

The hospital was huge and clean-smelling. It also smelled like the familiar scent of death that Isaac was too familiar with to be healthy. He sat down in the waiting room, and they were actually the only people there, probably because it was five in the morning. He watched Scott walk back and forth across the hall and spent a few seconds staring at Derek, who was hunched over and covered it Stiles’ blood, hand pressed over his mouth and eyes blank.

Finally, the front Hospital doors broke open and Jackson and Lydia busted through it like they were on a mission. Jackson panted and Lydia looked determined, nailing them down with her eyes and stalking forward. Isaac and Derek both stood up, but before they could even greet her she was shouting.

“Where is Stiles? What the hell happened!?” She snapped. Scott actually cowered.

“Alpha pack got to him,” Derek said, and he was so sure. They all were, now. The overwhelming scent of WRONG and WOLF that had wafted off of Stiles clothes, from his blood, it was obvious.

“Alpha…” Lydias voice trailed off and she looked confused.

“There’s another fucking pack?” Jackson spat out, “How come nobody told me?”

Scott looked defensive and Derek was growling, and Isaac was suddenly really, really, DONE.

“Because no one fucking tells each other anything!” Isaac shouted. Everyone’s mouths shut at once with an audible click and they stared at him, “I’ve been sitting here, watching no one talk to each other for over a month! The only reason Scott and Stiles knew there was another pack was because I told them! I’ve been watching Derek run around like a fucking horrible Alpha with his head up his ass for too long. And Scott act like none of THIS is fucking happening!”

He took a deep, shaky breath before continuing, “And YOU TWO expect us to tell you anything when you aren’t even around? When you haven’t even talked to any of us? Don’t feign concern about Stiles when you haven’t even cared enough to talk to him. He’s been alone. I’VE been alone, and Scott has been alone, and Derek has been alone. We’ve all been fucking alone, none of us doing anything at all when we should be together on this, and now Stiles is hurt and maybe he’s DYING, and it’s all our faults because we can’t suck it up and work together!”

He realized his voice had slowed to a whimper, and he panted out the last words, tears streaming down his face. They all looked down like they were ashamed, except for Scott who took a step closer to Isaac and weaved his fingers through his. Isaac winced at the touch, searching the other boys face.

“He’s right,” Scott breathed, looking over his friends, “This isn’t nothing. This is our faults. There’s no point blaming each other, we share the blame now.”

Lydia heaved and wiped a sleeve over her eye in a non-suspecting way, “This is crap. I can’t believe this happened.”

“I’m going to kill those Alphas. Every single one of them,” Derek muttered, “No one hurts part of my pack.” They all looked at him and his eyes widened, like he hadn’t realized what he said or its implications until he said it.

“Pack,” Scott swallowed hard, “Stiles is pack to you?”

Derek rolled his eyes, “Not like it matters, but, you’re all pack to me.”

Isaac squeezed Scotts hand, “You’re pack to me, too.” He said softly. Scott looked at him and sort of smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes and eventually died.

“I don’t know if I’m ready to be pack yet, I know right now I don’t want that,” Scott said after a moment, meeting Dereks eyes, “But we need to work together as a unit, that much is sure. Because I can’t just leave this. Stiles is… Stiles is my best friend.”

Jackson shifted slightly, “I’m not a huge fan of the big pack happy family idea, either. But Stiles is… well, he’s Stiles. And this shouldn’t have happened to him.”

“Not to Boyd or Erica either,” a voice said. They all spun around to see Allison, who somehow snuck up on all of them despite them being a bunch of werewolves. She glanced at Scott and folded her arms, “Lydia called me.”

Derek lifted his chin and studied her like he was debating telling her to leave or asserting some dominance, “The hunter know about this?”

“Yes. The kidnappings and now Stiles,” She huffed, “My dad wants you to know he’s behind you on this.”

Isaac realized he was still holding Scotts hand, in fact Scott was holding it so hard he might break it. Scott tensed obviously at the fact Allison was here, but he didn’t look heartbroken… He looked more nervous, like there something unresolved and he didn’t want to upset HER. Isaac resisted finding it a little cute, how Scott was always looking out for everyone, even when he didn’t have to.

Derek turned around and went back to the seat he had been at, sitting there and resuming hunching over. Jackson and Lydia took a seat and Isaac pulled Scott over to sit opposite of them. Allison didn’t sit down, she just hovered. Isaac kept holding Scotts hand, taking moments to stroke a thumb over it a little in comfort, and none of them talk. They just wait. At some point, Isaac realized Peter was just outside the hospital, humming to himself and waiting. He never came in though, probably as not to freak out Lydia and Allison, or anyone else who didn’t want to be around him.

Eventually, Scotts mom came out and into the waiting room. She looked tired and wrecked. Everyone stood up in unison and stared hard at her. She approached them and shifted uncomfortably before meeting Scotts eyes.

“Stiles is stable,” The collective sigh in relief that flowed through the group is nearly deafening, “But I called his dad, so, he’ll be here soon. Can you wait for him?”

Scott nodded quickly, “Does that mean the police are coming?”

“Probably. I think you should all wait here for questioning, but um,” She looked around like she was checking to make sure no one else was around, “Is this a wolf thing?”

“Yes,” Isaac said bluntly. They all glanced at him.

“But not one of you,” Miss McCall stated. It wasn’t a question, because it was obvious the way they were devastated and angry that this wasn’t any of them.

“No,” Derek hissed anyway. Isaac met his eyes.

Scotts mom frowned and looked away, her curls bouncing a bit, “I don’t know who did it, but it’s bad. If any of you get the chance to hurt them…” She trailed away and looked a little pained, like she didn’t understand her own request.

“How bad is it?” Lydia asked quietly, changing the subject and weaving her hand through Jacksons.

“His arm is broken, so is part of his foot, like he was trying to kick his way out of a tight space,” Isaac trembled at those words, “It looks like someone took a carving knife to his back and arms. He has general cuts and bruises, like he fought back. Someone hit him really hard in the head, and I think that’s the worst part of it, because he has a concussion, but he’s just in a drug-induced coma right now.”

“So he’ll wake up?” Scott squeaked out. She nodded, and then her face twisted up.

“There’s another thing. Some of his bruises, the cuts, they show….” She coughed nervously, “That there was some… sexual abuse. Nothing really bad, but attempted.”

The growl that erupts from Derek’s throat is the most inhuman thing Isaac has ever heard. He leaned over and pressed into Derek’s side, offering up sympathetic eyes and comfort in touch, despite how scared he should have probably been. Surprisingly, Derek leaned into it.

Scotts mom looked a little shocked at the noise, but nodded like she understood.

“When the Sherriff gets here, send him to see me.” Is all she said before turning heel and leaving. Isaac suspected she was on the verge of crying. He suspected they all were.

Lydia DID start crying, then. Little elegant tears as she pressed into Jackson shoulders and her body rocked. He wrapped his arms around her and looked sadder than Isaac had ever seen him look, even when he was accepting death at the hands of Derek and Peter.

Scott sat back down and buried his face in his hands, and Isaac wondered when he had let go of his, because he hadn’t noticed. Allison pulled her phone out of her jacket and left the group to make a call. Isaac stayed standing next to Derek, choosing to stand with his Alpha no matter what. Derek looked grateful.

When Sherriff Stilinski showed up, he looked completely destroyed, a mixture of the heartbroken on Dereks face and the lost look on Scotts. They all stood and watched him (aside from Scott, who looked like he might be crying or just having an emotional breakdown in his seat) as he approached them quickly.

He stared between the six of them, and blinked away tears. Finally, he spoke, “Who found him?”

“Me,” Derek said before anyone else could even open their mouths. He looked a little scared, oddly, and then began rambling excuses, “He was in the woods near my house, and we were looking for him so I-”

Derek got cut off by Stiles’ dad advancing on him. He flinched, like he thought he might hit him, and then looked utterly shocked when the Sherriff pulled him into a full embrace. Derek looked around at them all like he was panicking. They all looked away awkwardly, but Isaac couldn’t help the smile that touched over his own lips, especially when Derek finally relented and patted Mr. Stilinskis back comfortingly.

He pulled away and sniffed, looking over the tall Alpha, “I thought he was dead. You might have saved his life.”

Dereks eyes softened and it’s the farthest from angry he could possibly be, “I couldn’t keep him safe.”

Isaac considered the truth in that. The fact none of them could keep him safe, not really, and that Stiles was alone in the end. Right? Not even Scott was talking to Stiles. But then Isaac remembered the way Derek had smelled like Stiles on the few occasions that he had seen him these few weeks, and he wondered why he never questioned that. If Stiles was alone, and Derek was alone, maybe they found each other. And maybe Stiles wasn’t that alone before it happened after all.

Wow.

Isaac felt secondhand guilt for Derek. If Derek had been talking to Stiles, he must feel the worst about all of this. Because he was the one who was supposed to protect Stiles, he was the only one with that on him, really. Isaac was sad.

“I am going to go see him now,” The Sherriff stated. Derek actually lurched forward and they all just looked weirdly at him.

“Can…” Derek cleared his throat, “Can we come? We’ve been waiting for hours.”

The Sherriff nodded and looked over them, “I think it’s only three people at once, right? So you and… Scott?”

Scott still had his hands buried in his face. Isaac sat down next to him and frowned up at Mr. Stilinski, shaking his head. Scott wasn’t ready for that.

“I will, if that’s okay,” Lydia said, wiping the tears still lingering in her eyes. The three of them walked away, towards the desks on the other side of the room where the hospital receptionist was waiting. Isaac shot Jackson a look that he must have understood because he stood up and crossed the room to where Allison was on the phone again, leaving Scott and Isaac alone.

Isaac nudged Scott and got no response. He sighed and touched Scotts wrist, inching a hand away from his face to intertwine his fingers with his again. He opened his mouth, but he didn’t really know what to say. Should he lie? Tell Scott that this isn’t his fault? It is Scotts fault; it’s everyone’s fault. He doesn’t want to force Scott to choke on bullshit, so he decided to say something else.

“You didn’t leave him alone,” Isaac hums, nudged Scott again, “I think he and Derek have been together for a few weeks, in each other’s company.”

Scott turned his head away from his hand and looked over at Isaac with confusion on his face, “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Of course,” Isaac gave him a grin, “It’s like you played perfect matchmaker. I haven’t seen Derek this involved in months.”

Scott laughed a little, weak, but it was something. Isaac squeezed his hand.

“Do you think they’re… like, together?” Scott asked after a moment, looking a little disturbed by the idea despite this whole situation.

“I dunno,” Isaac shrugged, “All I know is Derek never talked to me but he always smelled like Stiles. So what does that tell you?”

Scott looked hesitant, “I guess… that they found each other. Even though they were alone.”

“So don’t feel bad about that,” Isaac stood up, tugging Scotts hand, “Let’s ask your mom if we can find a place to sleep until Stiles wakes up. You look like shit. No offense.”

Scott laughed and stood up, letting go of Isaacs hand, “Thanks, but so do you. No offense.”

“Ah, none taken.”

They found Scotts mom waiting a few feet outside of the closed doors of Stiles room. Scott asked her for somewhere to sleep and she smiled lightly between them before leading them up a floor where there was little cots that the doctors apparently slept in between shifts. She told them that she’d come find them if Stiles woke up, and then vanished, closing the door behind her and leaving Scott and Isaac alone in the darkness.

Scott collapsed into one of the hard looking mattresses and sighed, “I don’t know if I can sleep without nightmares, to be honest.”

Isaac twitched. He had been thinking the same thing. He looked over at him, “Me too.”

Scotts eyes seemed to glimmer a little yellow in the low light coming from outside as he studied Isaac. He moved over in the bed, as far against the wall as he could, “Do you want to…” He trailed off, like he couldn’t finish the request. But Isaac understood. He nodded and sat down on the bed with Scott, laying out and facing him. Scott looked visibly relieved and closed his eyes.

After a few seconds, Isaac muttered “Your mom seems really nice.”

“Oh yeah?” Scott said, not opening his eyes, “She is nice. It’s not easy, I guess, raising a son on your own, but she did it just fine.”

Isaac was quiet, and then, “I don’t remember my mom very well.” He kind of shocked himself. These were things he never talked about, didn’t allow himself the room to express. Scott opened his eyes and looked tentatively at him.

“Was she nice?”

“Yeah. She was really quiet. But my father loved her, right until the end.”

“Is that when…” Scott trailed away into silence, but Isaac knew what he was asking. If that was when the abuse started.

“Yeah,” Isaac said easily. It was always easy with Scott, “My mom died and my brother went off to war, and I was alone with him. He had a lot of rage, I guess.” Scott reached between them and took Isaacs hand again. He wondered why he kept doing that, but also felt his heart speed up just a bit. This was weird.

“I don’t remember my dad that much, because he left when I was so young. He was a drunk though,” Scott said quietly, so much of a whisper that Isaac barely heard him with wolf senses and all.

Isaac tilted his head, “What do you remember?”

“Well, he wasn’t a very good person or a good dad. I never felt wanted by him,” Scott admitted, “He got drunk a lot. I remember he used to come home wasted and my mom would yell at him. He always looked a little sorry, until one day he didn’t.”

“He…”

“Hit my mom, yeah,” Scott blinked, “I think I was five. It was the first time he hit her, ever. I remember the shocked look on both of their faces. And she told him to leave, so he did.”

“Your mom is stronger than most women in that position.”

Scott grinned, “Yeah, she is. I’m really glad he’s gone, honestly. It’s just weird having no dad, no male figure. My mom thinks she did something wrong but no, I’m glad he’s gone.”

Isaac nodded and he understood that. In his weaker moments, he was really glad his dad was dead. It took away so much of the pain, so many of the memories, so much of the hurt. Even in rare occasions of missing his dad, he never wished he was still alive. And that was probably a bad thing.

“What I’m trying to express about that I guess is, abuse is bad,” Scott frowned like he was thinking really hard, “But I guess the people who rise above it are… Powerful, in a way. Like you. You’re gentle, even though you have no reason to be. And I like that.”

Isaac felt a smile cross over his face and his throat felt hard, “Thanks, Scott.”

“Mmhmm…” Scott looked a little pained, and then lurched forward a bit, nuzzling his head into Isaacs collarbone. Isaac blushed slightly but smiled, letting him sit there. “Do you think Erica and Boyd are alive?”

“I don’t know,” Isaac admitted, “Is it bad if I say I hope not?”

“What? Why?”

Isaac closed his eyes and remembered the smell of blood and the way Stiles looked, “If they did that to Stiles in a day, I don’t even want to think about the pain they could have caused Erica and Boyd over a month.”

Scott shivered, “That’s… a good point.”

Isaac let out a shaky breath and decided this was a good point to stop talking. He buried his face in Scotts hair and inhaled deeply, the sweet smells of shampoo and dirt. He moved his hands from where Scott was holding it between them and wrapped his arm around his back, pulling him closer into him. This felt right. Scott felt like… Home and family, two things Isaac hadn’t had in a really long time. And even though the circumstances sucked, he felt more like part of a pack than he ever had.

Scott trembled a bit underneath him, “Isaac…”

“Scott.”

“Do you think Stiles is going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” Isaac mumbled truthfully into Scotts hair, “I mean, not immediately. But he’s going to recover. He’s stronger than all of us.”

Scott pulled back a little against Isaacs groan of protest, pulling to rest above him on his elbows. He met his eyes and looked at him like he was trying to decipher something. Isaac frowned up at him.

“What?” Isaac asked, a little baffled. Scott leaned forward and brushed his lips over Isaacs. He froze, shock pulsing through him.

“Tell me this is okay,” Scott whispered. It sounded a little broken.

Well, what the hell, was it okay? Isaacs heart was slamming hard in his chest. He thought Scott was attractive, yeah, REALLY attractive and endearing, the way he was kind of dopey and awkward. He loved Scotts loyalty. He felt at home when Scott was with him, liked the way he smelled, liked being here for him no matter what. But did he want… this? He gasped out a breath and imagined Scott pulling away, going back to normal, and felt the way that pulled badly on his heart.

“It’s okay,” Isaac breathed. He could feel Scott smile as he pressed his lips into his, moving like a rhythm. Isaac had never kissed anyone before, but this was hot and wonderful and everything he wanted. Like two people moving together like water. He raked his hand up Scotts back and through his hair, grabbing hold. Scott trailed his thumb over Isaacs cheekbones. He felt Scotts tongue brushing over his lips and inhaled quickly before accepting it. Wetness added to the friction, and Scott sucked Isaacs tongue, forcing a slow whimper out of him. Isaac dug his nails into Scotts hair, but then suddenly the tongue was gone and the mouth was moving away.

“We should stop,” Scott chuckled a little. Isaac blinked at him in confusion, “Because I could do this all day, but I’m really tired.”

Isaac nodded, wide-eyed, “Me too.”

Scott laid his head back down on Isaacs chest and sighed, “Thank you.”

“For what?” Isaac settled his arms around Scott, pushing closer into him.

“Everything. Being here. Helping me.”

“Anything for you.” Isaac whispered, and he was shocked at how true the statement was. He knew one thing for certain, he wasn’t going to sit back and watch everything go to hell ever again. No matter how much he felt he couldn’t change it.

A few minutes passed and he realized Scott was fast asleep. Isaac closed his eyes and listened to try and ease his troubled head. He heard voices downstairs and honed in on them.

“Thank you for calling me,” Someone was saying, it sounded like Stiles’ dad.

“Of course. I am so sorry this happened,” Scotts mom replied.

“I’m just glad he’s safe, honestly.”

“Well, he’ll be fine. Come on, I’ll buy you coffee.” Isaac could almost hear her warm smile from here. She made him miss his own mom. He honed in on another voice that had started about ten feet away from them.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen to you, Stiles,” The deep voice was unmistakably Derek’s, but it was weighted with fondness and sadness, “I should have been there to protect you. I’m not a very good Alpha, am I?” A pause, and then, “I know you can’t hear me so I’m just going to say it. I’m glad I have had you with me these past weeks. I kissed you and just… I meant it. I don’t know what it means, but I meant it.”

Isaac heard a little noise like a mumble of sleepiness from Stiles, and could practically hear Dereks heart speed up. But Isaac was grinning and feeling like a victory had definitely been won if Derek Hale was admitting his feelings, even if Stiles wasn’t conscious and it took his near-death to make it happen. Isaac suddenly knew a big, important secret or something. He tuned them out and focused on Scotts breathing, deep and rested. He hoped Scott wouldn’t have a nightmare, but if he did he knew he wanted to be here.

He wanted a lot, actually. He wasn’t sure what this was with Scott but it was important, and it had the potential to grow. He wanted to have that with Scott. He wanted to be here when Stiles woke up, to welcome him into the waking world and help him get through whatever trauma he had. Isaac knew a lot about trauma. He wanted Stiles and Derek to be happy the way Jackson and Lydia were. He wanted to give Scott happiness no matter what that implied. He wanted to hunt down those Alphas, even if it meant teaming up with the Argents and Allison, and he wanted to get revenge for hurting Stiles, and find out what happened to Erica and Boyd.

And suddenly he felt overwhelmed with the feeling of true pack, and it lulled him to sleep. That’s what a pack was, right? Protectors, avengers, lovers, friends. That feeling of wanting their safety and happiness above yours. Those feelings he felt for Stiles and Scott, Derek and Peter, Erica and Boyd, Jackson and Lydia, even maybe Allison and Scotts mom and Stiles’ dad. These things affected him, pulsed through him like blood.

Isaac suddenly knew how it felt to have a family.


End file.
